A network tethering (Tethering) behavior refers to a behavior that a to-be-networked device is connected to a mobile terminal by means of WiFi (Wireless Fidelity, wireless fidelity), Bluetooth, a USB (Universal Serial BUS, universal serial bus), or the like to implement mobile network tethering through the mobile terminal. The to-be-networked device includes, but is not limited to, a computer, a tablet computer, and a mobile terminal. A manner in which the computer, tablet computer or the like interacts with the mobile network is different from a manner in which the mobile terminal interacts with the mobile network. For example, for the manner in which the computer, tablet computer or the like interacts with the mobile network, more P2P (Point to Point, point to point) downloading operations may be performed, which causes a great impact on the mobile network, aggravates congestion of the mobile network, and impacts the sale of services such as a data card, thereby affecting the revenues of operators. Therefore, many operators hope to be able to identify and control the network tethering behavior.
In the prior art, there are two methods for identifying a network tethering behavior. In solution 1, when an IP (Internet Protocol, Internet protocol) packet is a Get request packet, a GGSN (Gateway General Packet Radio Service Support Node, gateway general packet radio service support node) performs DPI (Deep Packet Inspection, deep packet inspection) parsing on the received Get packet, to determine a UA (User-Agent, user-agent) field in the Get packet. The UA is a special string header included in the Get packet, and stores information such as an operating system and a version thereof, a browser and a version thereof, a browser rendering engine, a browser language, and a browser plug-in used by an IP packet sending device. The GGSN can determine a network access type of the IP packet sending device according to information such as the operating system in the UA, so as to distinguish whether the IP packet sending device accesses a network through a network tethering behavior. In solution 2, a separate APN (Access Point Name, access point name) is set for a to-be-networked device for a network tethering function and is independent of an APN of a mobile terminal, and then the GGSN can identify a network tethering behavior by identifying the APN.
In solution 1, if the mobile terminal performs a service without a Get packet, the GGSN cannot acquire a UA field in a Get packet, and cannot further identify a network tethering behavior; if the mobile terminal performs a service with a Get packet, because browsers of a large part of mobile terminals can set UAs by themselves and users can also modify UAs, it is easy for the GGSN to identify a network tethering behavior wrongly. In solution 2, currently, only an iOS (iPhone Operating System, iPhone operating system) supports setting of a separate APN for the network tethering function, and an operator can configure an APN for the network tethering function in the mobile terminal only when cooperating with Apple Inc., thereby having a narrow applicable scenario.